Winner, Winner, Chicken Dinner

I had a tough time last week, so thanks for all the encouragement. You guys must have sent some good luck my way, too. Because what a difference a week makes! I’ve won not once, but twice over the past few days.

That’s right. Winner, winner, chicken dinner! This phrase originally comes from games of alley craps during the Great Depression. However, it’s also referenced in the movie 21 because legend goes that an average Las Vegas win ($2) could buy a chicken dinner ($1.79). For a cultural parallel, when you win in mahjong, you can say, “Sik wu!” (lit. “Eat congee!”).

It looks like winners get all the yummy food. Here are my latest prizes:

Congrats on your recent winnings! I love when these kinds of things happen to me. I once won a giveaway of five books. But the publisher messed up(Harper) and sent me five of each book- I got 25 books in the mail! I donated some to libraries and did some giveaways of my own. It was like Christmas! =)

Thanks, Leandra! Wow, that’s great that you got 5x what you were expecting. I went to a librarian convention over the summer, and it felt like Christmas to me, as I got all these new advanced reading copies. (There was actually a big line at the local post office as people boxed and shipped off all their literary swag.)

Thanks, Evelyne! Writing is such an up-and-down ride. There should be a link to the anthology contest on this post. I wrote a piece about how my mom inspired me when I was growing up–usually I write fiction, but I wanted to honor her with an essay.